An electrical connector for an air bag used in an automobile includes a male connector and a female connector. Male terminals for signal transmission positioned in the male connector are connected to a signaling side, such as a shock sensor, while female terminals for signal transmission in the female connector are connected to an apparatus side, such as an air bag unit. The connector has a function, among others, of short-circuiting the female terminals in order to prevent malfunction due to an accidental current flow to the apparatus side when the male connector and the female connector are separated from each other. The connector also has a function of breaking the short circuit between the female terminals when the male connector and the female connector are mated with each other (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-50850, for example).
As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a known female connector 100 in which adjacent female terminals 120 are short-circuited includes a housing 110 having a plurality of terminal receiving cavities 111 for receiving female terminals 120 therein and the female terminals 120 received in the respective terminal receiving cavities 111 and locked by corresponding lances 112. The female terminal 120 has a contact piece 120a formed by folding back a front end part of the female terminal 120 and a contact protrusion 120b protruding to the inside of the terminal receiving cavity 111. A male terminal of a male connector (not shown) is electrically connected to the female terminal 120. An upper surface of the male terminal is in contact with the contact piece 120a and the lower surface is in contact with the contact protrusion 120b. The housing 110 has, at the front thereof, male terminal inlets 113 formed at positions corresponding to the positions of the terminal receiving cavities 111. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-50850, a side of the female connector at which the male connector is mated therewith is defined as a front side, and the opposite side is defined as a rear side.
The female connector 100 has a U-shaped short-circuit terminal for short-circuiting a pair of female terminals 120 that are adjacent to each other in the width direction. As shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-50850, the conventional short-circuit terminal has a bent part formed at the rear thereof and a contact formed at the front thereof that is to come into direct contact with a female terminal, and the section from the bent part to the contact functions as a spring. The contact comes into elastic contact with the lower surface of the contact protrusion 120b of the female terminal 120 through a window 114 formed in a front part of the housing. Then, as shown by the arrow A in FIG. 10, an upward force is applied to the female terminal 120.
For the conventional female connector 100, the lances 112 are disposed above the female terminals 120 to which an upward force is applied. However, the lances 112 are elastically deformable and therefore cannot adequately absorb the upward force. As a result, the female terminals 120 are deformed to be bent upward, and the contact between the contacts and the female terminals 120 is unstable. Thus, there is a possibility that the short circuit between the paired female terminals 120 is broken, and a current may accidentally flow to the apparatus side, which causes malfunction.
If a housing wall that supports the female terminals 120 is formed at the front of the lances 112, the upward displacement of the female terminals 120 can be prevented. Actually, however, a mold member for forming the lances 112 has to be placed at the front of the lances 112, and therefore the housing wall cannot be formed at the front of the lances 112.
In addition, as a component of an automobile, there is a demand for minimizing the female connector 100. To meet the demand, the lance 112, which is a component of the female connector 100, also has to be reduced in size. However, if the size of the lance 112 is reduced, the strength of the lance 112 decreases, and the female terminal 120 is more easily deformed and bent upward.
In addition, for the known female connector 100, the window 114 is formed over a front end part of the terminal receiving cavities 111. Thus, as shown in FIG. 11, the female terminal 120 is held by the housing 110 only at the opposite side surfaces in the width direction. As a result, the female terminal 120 is likely to rotate about the axis thereof and be displaced. As the displacement becomes significant, the female terminals 120 is unable to smoothly mate with the male terminals.